Paradox: Stories of the Wild West

Editor’s Note: This is the seventh installment in a 17-part series looking at 125 years of history in Montrose County.

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Stories of the Wild West are plentiful in the history of the Paradox Valley, which is situated in the extreme west end of Montrose County.

The valley was named in the 1870s by A.C. Peale, who worked with the Hayden Survey. The Dolores River runs across the valley, rather than parallel like most rivers do, creating what Peale felt was a true paradox. Few settled in the eastern two-thirds of the valley because it is desert, but the western one-third is fed by numerous springs from Paradox Creek, which flows into the valley from Utah’s La Sal Mountains.

Although the valley was part of the Ute Indian Reservation, white squatters were there as early as the 1870s. Due to its rugged terrain, being so remote and close to the Utah border, it became a haven for outlaws in addition to ranchers who were struggling to make a living. The lack of plentiful water and good land prompted violence that continued for several decades, causing some to call it the “Slaughterhouse of the West.”

Thomas Goshorn and Riley Watson were the first known settlers to arrive in the valley in the fall of 1877, coming from the Blue Mountains of Utah. Goshorn left after two years, but Watson and his family remained. Watson’s wife was appointed the first postmistress of the little settlement of Paradox in 1879. Mail arrived by pack mules from Ouray until the settlement of Montrose in 1881.

Fred Mayall was said to have brought the first herd of cattle to the Paradox Valley in 1878, but because he was trespassing on Ute Indian land, he was convinced by them to head out of the country as fast as he could—which he did, abandoning his herd.

Frank Steele arrived with his herd of cattle in 1879, partnering with Prescott Stevens to form the Stevens and Steele Cattle Company.

James C. Huff brought his family to Paradox in 1880, acquiring land along La Sal Creek, where the Cashin Copper Mine was later discovered.

When the Indians were removed in 1881, more settlers started to trickle in, including Shadrick Talbert and his family, along with the Nyswongers, Richard Netherly and Tom Ray. Netherly, fondly known as “Uncle Dick,” was a great horse lover who owned a race horse named “Sagebrush Jack.” Horse racing originated by Netherly became a valley tradition, producing many colorful stories.

In 1883, state Senator James P. Galloway decided to pull up stakes from his place on the Rio Grande River. With backing from Pueblo businessmen, he organized the Galloway Land, Cattle and Investment Co. with the intention of locating and patenting all the water in the Paradox valley and stocking the surrounding country with his cattle. He enticed his young nephew, Alva Galloway, to help herd the stock and move his family to the new settlement of Bedrock. The senator eventually acquired a 1,600-acre spread and a large impressive home that became a stopping place for people passing through. Alva Galloway ventured to Montrose, where he served as the county treasurer for many years.

The area where the town of Bedrock was established was first inhabited in 1881 by W.D. Hamilton, John W. Prentiss and Mrs. Lucy Cooper. A year or so later, Hamilton was bought out by an Englishman, Thomas Swain, who years later in 1895, started the first store in Paradox. It was around that time that Swain, a dabbling mineralogist, discovered copper in the future Cashin Mine.

The town of Bedrock started in 1898 when Milton Fraides built the first store. Due to the booming copper mine, the town grew to 500 residents, two saloons and two hotels.